Decades before there was Banksy, there was Blek Le Rat, the French stencil artist who, to some, is considered the godfather of stencil street art. To celebrate his 3 decade long career this winter, a book will be launched at this year's Art Basel Miami Beach and a string of gallery exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. Get the full scoop, and read our interview w/ Blek from 2008.

Blek
le Rat, the “godfather” of stencil graffiti commemorates 30 years
creating art on the streets with the launch of new retrospective from
Art Publishing, Ltd.

Xavier Prou a.k.a. Blekle
Rat, the Parisian-born artist practicing stencil graffiti since the
late 1970’s, will be celebrating his 30-year anniversary of creating art
on the streets later this year with a highly anticipated book launch at
Art Basel Miami Beach 2011 and gallery exhibitions throughout the
United States and Europe. Blek le Rat is one of the most prolific
stencil graffiti artists of his generation, applying his trademark rats
and iconic imagery around the world since New Year’s Eve, 1981. His work
has influenced many of the most celebrated contemporary artists
including the infamously anonymous graffiti artist Banksy, who in 2006
said, “Every time I think I’ve painted something slightly original, I
find out that Blek le Rat has done it as well. Only twenty years
earlier. . .”

This
retrospective features the artist's private family photos, point and
shoot images of his graffiti artwork from around the world, and
full-color reproductions of his gallery pieces. The book is separated
into two distinct sections: "Street Art" and "Fine Art," both of which
are augmented by the writing of celebrated scholars, critics, experts in
relevant fields, fellow artists, journalists, collectors and
gallerists. Lavishly illustrated with more than 200 images, "Blek le
Rat," the 30 year anniversary retrospective offers the first full
history of this seminal artist's tradition and legacy, featuring:

· Street art images from around the world

· Full-color reproductions of Blek le Rat's fine art

· Never before seen images from the Prou family's private archives

· 30+ essays from celebrated artists, scholars, critics and gallerists from around the world.

Art Publishing Ltd.
is dedicated to providing the discerning consumer and sophisticated
reader with the ultimate experience literary objects d’art. We believe
in the power of art to ignite the imagination, stimulate thought, and
provide entertainment. We strive to provoke though in the arts
community, and support the role of art in our society through our
publications.

We haven't been featuring many interviews as of late. Let's change that up as we check in with a few local San Francisco artists like Kevin Earl Taylor here whom we studio visited back in 2009 (PHOTOS & VIDEO). It's been awhile, Kevin...

If you like guns and boobs, head on over to the Shooting Gallery; just don't expect the work to be all cheap ploys and hot chicks. With Make Stuff by Peter Gronquist (Portland) in the main space and Morgan Slade's Snake in the Eagle's Shadow in the project space, there is plenty spectacle to be had, but if you look just beyond it, you might actually get something out of the shows.

Fifty24SF opened Street Anatomy, a new solo show by Austrian artist Nychos a week ago last Friday night. He's been steadily filling our city with murals over the last year, with one downtown on Geary St. last summer, and new ones both in the Haight and in Oakland within the last few weeks, but it was really great to see his work up close and in such detail.

Congrats on our buddies at Needles and Pens on being open and rad for 11 years now. Mission Local did this little short video featuring Breezy giving a little heads up on what Needles and Pens is all about.

Matt Wagner recently emailed over some photos from The Hellion Gallery in Tokyo, who recently put together a show with AJ Fosik (Portland) called Beast From a Foreign Land. The gallery gave twelve of Fosik's sculptures to twelve Japanese artists (including Hiro Kurata who is currently showing in our group show Salt the Skies) to paint, burn, or build upon.

Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne played host to a huge group exhibition a couple of weeks back, with "Gold Blood, Magic Weirdos" Curated by Melbourne artist Sean Morris. Gold Blood brought together 25 talented painters, illustrators and comic artists from Australia, the US, Singapore, England, France and Spain - and marked the end of the Magic Weirdos trilogy, following shows in Perth in 2012 and London in 2013.

San Francisco based Fecal Pal Jeremy Fish opened his latest solo show Hunting Trophies at LA's Mark Moore Gallery last week to massive crowds and cabin walls lined with imagery pertaining to modern conquest and obsession.

Well, John Felix Arnold III is at it again. This time, he and Carolyn LeBourgios packed an entire show into the back of a Prius and drove across the country to install it at Superchief Gallery in NYC. I met with him last week as he told me about the trip over delicious burritos at Taqueria Cancun (which is right across the street from FFDG and serves what I think is the best burrito in the city) as the self proclaimed "Only overweight artist in the game" spilled all the details.

Ever Gold opened a new solo show by NYC based Henry Gunderson a couple Saturday nights ago and it was literally packed. So packed I couldn't actually see most of the art - but a big crowd doesn't seem like a problem. I got a good laugh at what I would call the 'cock climbing wall' as it was one of the few pieces I could see over the crowd. I haven't gotten a chance to go back and check it all out again, but I'm definitely going to as the paintings that I could get a peek at were really high quality and intruiguing. You should do the same.

The paintings in the show are each influenced by a musician, ranging from Freddy Mercury, to Madonna, to A Tribe Called Quest and they are so stylistically consistent with each musician's persona that they read as a cohesive body of work with incredible variation. If you told me they were each painted by a different person, I would not hesitate to believe you and it's really great to see a solo show with so much variety. The show is fun, poppy, very well done, and absolutely worth a look and maybe even a listen.

With rising rent in SF and knowing mostly other young artists without capitol, I desired a way to live rent free, have a space to do my craft, and get to see more of the world. Inspired by the many historical artists who have longed similar longings I discovered the beauty of artist residencies. Lilo runs Adhoc Collective in Vienna which not only has a fully equipped artists creative studio, but an indoor halfpipe, and private artist quarters. It was like a modern day castle or skate cathedral. It exists in almost a utopic state, totally free to those that apply and come with a real passion for both art and skateboarding

I just wanted to share with you a piece I recently finished which took me 4 years to complete. Titled "How To Lose Yourself Completely (The September Issue)", it consists of a copy of the September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine (the issue they made the documentary about) with all faces masked with a sharpie, and everything else entirely whited out. 840 pages of fun. -Bryan Schnelle

Jeremy Fish opens Hunting Trophies tonight, Saturday April 5th, at the Los Angeles based Mark Moore Gallery. The show features new work from Fish inside the "hunting lodge" where viewers climb inside the head of the hunter and explore the history of all the animals he's killed.

Beautiful piece entitled "The Albatross and the Shipping Container", Ink on Paper, Mounted to Panel, 47" Diameter, by San Francisco based Martin Machado now on display at FFDG. Stop in Saturday (1-6pm) to view the group show "Salt the Skies" now running through April 19th. 2277 Mission St. at 19th.

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to quit my job, move out of my house, leave everything and travel again. So on August 21, 2013 I pushed a canoe packed full of gear into the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Lake Itasca, Minnesota, along with four of my best friends. Exactly 100 days later, I arrived at a marina near the Gulf of Mexico in a sailboat.